The Shadow Man
by MrAntiNaruHina
Summary: 5 friends try to live their summer in peace and fun, but can the survive the impending horrors? Rated M for language, drug use, gore, and death.
1. Char List

**The Shadow Man Character List**

**Characters:**

Main Character: Naruto Uzumaki (male, 20yo, blue eyes, blonde hair, Ht: 5'11" Wt: 170lbs. Aspiring writer, unemployed, HS grad. Occasional stoner.)

Secondary character: Ino Yamanaka (female, 18yo, teal eyes, Platinum blonde hair, Ht: 5'7" Wt: 130lbs, sort of ditzy and random, but serious when needed. Has a crush on Naruto Uzumaki but he doesn't know it. High School Senior. Occasional Stoner.)

Secondary character: Kiba Inuzuka (Male, 20yo, brown eyes, brown hair, Ht: 5'10" Wt: 165lbs, not horribly bright, but exceedingly loyal and friendly, tough, willing to fight. Fresh High School Grad. Works for his dad at a convenience store. Loves all women, but not very good at hitting on them. Heavy stoner.)

Secondary character: Sakura Haruno (female, 18yo, green eyes, pink hair, Ht: 5'8" Wt: 145lbs, Sasuke's girlfriend, smart, sarcastic, and deeply in love with Sasuke. Heavy Stoner.)

Secondary character: Sasuke Uchiha (male, 20yo, black eyes, black hair, Ht: 6' Wt: 180lbs, Rich kid but not snooty about it. Not very afraid of anything and loves fighting. Out of HS for 2 years. Heavy Stoner)

Secondary character: Shikamaru Nara: (Male, 20yo, 6'3, brown eyes, black hair in a ponytail, 140lbs, accomplished writer working on his next book. Drug addict of coke and heroin.


	2. Prologue

**A/N: **Hey everyone, I know it's been awhile since I've uploaded anything. Sorry about that, I've just been busy with work and moving in with my gf. (Woot woot!) But I'm back and hopefully going to be uploading more as inspiration comes. Haha. Anyway, this story came to me out of something my friends and I joked about as early teens, you know 13-15. I hope you like it, because it terrified us as kids.

XxX

Naruto Uzumaki hummed along to the song currently playing, not really listening but having heard it enough to recognize the beat. It was some hip hop/pop song. Just some crap song that was popular nowadays. He ignored it in favor of getting back to his writing. After all, to get published is his biggest goal. Oh, he didn't want to become a big time famous writer like his godfather Jiraiya, which was too much publicity. He was content with being a moderately well known author, recognized by fans but not mainstream, just enough to get by with some extra. Though if the money was offered, who was he to refuse their generous offer?

He chuckled to himself and shook his head. Now was no time to be daydreaming, he had a book to write. He stared at the blank computer screen and let his mind kind of wander…just free floating around from idea to idea, thought to thought, until one of them would pop out and he would write it down, no matter how obscure. After hours of half listening to music, getting lost in thought, and all around daydreaming, he sighed and rubbed his eyes. No more ideas were coming. He decided to call it a night and looked at the clock, 4 AM. Not the latest he'd ever stayed up writing, but it was cutting it close.

After shutting down his computer he went to the bathroom and proceeded to wash his face, brush his teeth, relieve himself, and walk back to his bedroom before plopping down onto his bed and crawling under his covers. He sighed and closed his eyes, willing sleep to take him. He started unconsciously humming the song from earlier, silently scolding himself for not being able to get it out of his head. He tossed and turned for awhile, until he found a comfortable spot on his side with his back facing his room. As he was starting to doze his mind slowly blanked out, the day's events being replayed slower and slower until they were near nonexistent. Just as he was on the cusp of sleep, he heard a noise that jerked him awake. He blinked and wondered if he'd imagined it or not. He turned, looking through sleep heavy eyes and seeing nothing laid his head back down to try again.

He was almost asleep again when he heard it again, this time it wasn't a dream. It sounded like something shifting slightly under his desk, across the room. His heart starting to beat faster, he sat up and looked at underneath his desk. Nothing was there that he could make out. Just darkness, the street lights from outside the house giving a slight amount of illumination to the room.

Shaking his head, he lay down again, trying to ignore the little paranoid fantasies that play through the back of his mind. He wasn't 5 anymore. He knew monsters didn't exist. Neither did ghosts, demons, or anything like that. He was just tired and it was making him hear things out of exhaustion and an overactive imagination.

He closed his eyes and that's when he heard it again. Only this time it was a bump, and a hard one. He whipped around in time to see a pencil roll towards the edge of his desk slowly and teeter on the edge for a second before falling and making a barely audible 'thud' on the carpet.

He gulped and slowly eased himself off the bed, inch by inch until both his feet were on the floor. Somewhere in the back of his mind he noted that the carpet was almost chilly to the touch. He stood up and slowly, slightly shakily, he walked to his desk and bent to pick up the pencil. His fingers brushed it and finally wrapped around the wood, near the metal part with the eraser.

He shook his head and chuckled quietly as he set it on his desk. His stupid imagination, his English teacher, Mr. Hatake, had said that it was a good quality for a writer but this was ridiculous. He had just started to turn around when the desk was bumped again. Jumping, he turned to see the same pencil fall again. This wasn't his imagination. The desk had just been knocked like he'd fallen into it.

He quickly knelt to pick it up again when he froze. He could make out a sound, right in front of him. A slightly raspy sound, one he's heard almost every day from his dad. Something was breathing under his desk. He briefly considered his options. Before he could come to a decision, he slowly looked up and his heart nearly stopped.

In front of him were two little yellow eyes. The pupils were solid black, so it looked like two little sickly yellow rings floating in the dark. His breath caught in his throat. As if sensing his fear, the eyes almost seemed to get brighter. Slowly, what felt like hours to Naruto, a smile appeared on its face, a wide, sick smile. Almost taking up its entire face. Little rows of perfectly square teeth started back at him.

Naruto's heart pounded in his ears, every instinct in his body was screaming at him to run as fast as he could in the opposite direction. But he couldn't move an inch. The thing opened its mouth slightly and exhaled slowly. The smell of rancid meat hit Narutos nostrils, making his eyes water.

He fell backward and could barely support himself on his arms, they were shaking to badly. He couldn't look away. No matter how much he wanted to, he just couldn't. He felt like he was in some kind of trance. The thing eyed him slowly up and down, as if deciding on something. Its tongue, long and so purple it was almost black, licked its lips hungrily.

Naruto could only watch as the thing seemed to shrink and for a split moment, he thought it was going away. But that little bit of relief changed to pure terror when he saw it spring towards him in a blur of black. He only had time to open his mouth in a silent scream before everything he knew exploded in white hot pain, then nothingness.


	3. Chapter 1

**A/N:** Hey again! I got the first chapter done so I hope you like it. This story, by the way, is dedicated to desideira and The Leaf180. Two of my good friends on here. Thanks you two. Anyway, any and all reviews are welcome. I want to know what you like or hate about this story so I can make it better. Thanks a lot. So here is chapter 1. Enjoy!

XxX

Naruto shot up, his heart beating wildly, and covered in a cold sweat. Slowly he looked around and as the sunlight streamed in through the window, his heart slowed down and he sighed. _'Just a bad dream, that's all.'_ He thought. He sighed as he threw his sheet off him. He was soaked in sweat from the nightmare. "Nasty…need a shower ASAP." He muttered.

Turning on his stereo, he powered up his Ipod, changed to his favorite song, and cranked it as loud as he could so he could listen to it in the shower. He gathered a handful of clothes and ambled towards the shower, humming and singing along to the song. Turning on the water he stared at the mirror while it warmed up.

He wasn't a fan of how he looked. With bright blonde hair, sky blue eyes, and an toned body, he wasn't bad looking, but he always felt he could look better. _'Meh…too much work…'_ he thought absentmindedly. He pulled the knob for the shower and hopped in, hissing at the heat but enjoying it nonetheless.

After drying himself off and dressing, he threw his towel and dirty clothes in the hamper as he walked to the kitchen to fix himself some much needed breakfast. He looked at the clock and sighed. _'1 pm…guess its lunch then.'_ Opening the fridge he scanned for anything that would catch his eye. With a frustrated growl, finding nothing, he slammed the fridge door and scoured the cabinets.

Smirking with success he grabbed a pack of ramen and got out a pan to boil water. "Hmm…let's see…2 cups of water…boil…and add the ramen…cook for blah blah blah…okay. I got it." While the water was getting heated up, he took out his cell phone and groaned. "Really Kiba? Really? 12 texts?" He read them all and sighed, obviously Kiba was drinking or smoking last night. Most of the texts were gibberish and misspelled.

Naruto was so preoccupied trying to decipher the texts that he cursed when he heard the hiss of water boiling over. Quickly adding the ramen, he picked up his phone and mumbled, "Damn it Kiba…distracting me and shit…" Texting back to make sure Kiba survived the night, he moved on to other messages and seeing Ino had texted, he smiled a bit.

Ino was a girl he had met when he was a senior and she was a sophomore. She had been walking and not really paying attention and he was staring at a text his friend sent. They had collided in a hail of paper and notebooks. They tried to apologize over each other and ended up laughing amidst a pile of paper. Long story short, they had exchanged numbers and been friends ever since.

Texting her back and pouring the seasoning into his ramen, Naruto settled down in front of the TV and switched on the weather. Making a face when the forecast showed it would be slightly over 100, he turned on his 360 and signed in. _'No one is on I guess. Meh, Netflix is always reliable.'_

He slurped his ramen loudly and scrolled through the options, nothing catching his eyes when his phone vibrated. Glancing at it he saw it was Kiba confirming he survived the night and asking if he wanted to hang out later. Mentally going through his schedule for the day Naruto texted a confirmation and asked if Kiba would text Ino, Sasuke, and Sakura to ask.

Sasuke and Sakura…there was a couple. Some of the biggest stoners and one of the craziest in love couples he knew. Sasuke Uchiha was 20, the same age as he and Kiba. He was in the same grade when they were in High School and they all met when Ino brought Sakura and Sasuke to hang out one day. They found that they all liked to smoke and listened to mostly the same bands.

Sakura Haruno was Ino;s best friend and the same age, both were 18, and Sakura had been dating Sasuke for about 2 years now. He was sarcastic and cynical, but head over heels for Sakura. The perfect counter to her easygoing and bubbly personality. Lucky for her, he was just as in love with her as she was with him.

Naruto was scrolling through Netflix options, not really finding anything that popped out and screamed 'WATCH ME!' He saw a few crappy 80's action movies, some comedies, foreign movies and shows, then stopped on an old war movie. Though he wasn't a huge fan of war movies, they all seemed repetitive to him, Sasuke wouldn't shut up about it, so Naruto decided to give it a shot.

Thinking about Sasuke, Naruto snorted and shook his head. Sasuke Uchiha…now that was a crazy dude right there. Right out of High School he had joined a fighting organization; it was his lifelong dream ever since he was a kid. Naruto remembered that he always wanted to play Army and all those games with Nerf or water guns. Sasuke had been off the tour for awhile since he had basically shattered his leg after his first fight.

Naruto looked at his cell phone and sighed. It was 3 in the afternoon, time to try and get some writing done he supposed. Shutting off his Xbox 360 and TV, tossing his trash away and jogging up the stairs, he settled down in front of his computer and fired it up. After the usual hassle of inputting his password and waiting for the damn thing to load, he opened his music folder and had a mini debate with himself on what to listen to.

Choosing the Lacuna Coil discography he had downloaded the other night, he rolled his neck and cracked his knuckles and got down to work. Work being staring at the blank screen for a few minutes before growing frustrated and minimizing the screen. Maybe just browsing the net will give him some inspiration to get past this damn writers block.

Naruto lazily checked his email, nothing but junk to be deleted. Then went to a couple of his favorite sites to get in a better mood. Chuckling at a picture of a cat looking at the camera evilly while wearing a hat, he opened a new tab and went on Facebook to see if anyone had done anything interesting lately.

After what felt like an hour he looked at the clock and had to do a quick double take. "6:30pm…? Really? I was on the net for 3 ½ hours? Stupid…oh well, better call up Kiba and see if we're gonna get everyone together or what…" He muttered to himself.

Dialing Kiba's number Naruto stared out his window while it rang, someone outside was yelling at their dog, probably that old guy next door. He was always yelling about something or other. Hearing a faint 'Hello' Naruto snapped back to the phone and asked "Kiba?"

"Yeah dude, I've been sitting here saying 'Hello' for like 8 times."

Naruto chuckled "Sorry man, lost in thought. Yo, are we getting everyone and going to do something tonight?"

He heard Kiba inhale and rolled his eyes, he and someone were smoking. As usual. After a bit of coughing and hearing the person asking if he was alright Kiba finally wheezed out a reply. "Yeah bro, just go and grab Sasuke, his ass if probably still passed out from last night. Heard he tried to get in another fight."

Naruto sighed and rubbed his eyes. "Yeah…I'm sure. Okay. Call Ino and see if she is down, I'll swing by and grab her first, she's on the way to Sasukes house."

Kiba chuckled "Aww…going to pick up your girlfr-"but Naruto had hung up.

He didn't need to hear them give him shit about that. Besides, Ino didn't like him. Why would she? There are tons of guys crushing on her that were better than him.

Shaking off those thoughts, Naruto went to his closet to find something to wear out. Might as well look good for whatever ladies will be at the club. Digging through piles of unfolded but clean, emphasis on CLEAN, clothes, he decided to wear his dark blue jeans with an emerald green short sleeve shirt over a white long sleeve shirt. Grabbing his brown beanie with HONOR on it, he got his keys and was out the door.

Hopping in his car he got the text from Kiba 'Ino is down, grb her homiy'. Naruto just sighed at his friends stoned spelling. At least after all this time of knowing him, he'd become some sort of expert in reading and translating the language of the stoner. Idly he wondered if you could make that a college class to take as he pulled his car away and took off.

Driving down the streets to Ino's house, Naruto looked at the city as it passed by…Konoha wasn't the most exciting place to be. Sure, it was the largest city in the state and if you didn't live here, it must be great but to someone who lived here their whole lives, it was D.U.L.L. Lots of musicians came, and there were things to do downtown, but none of those were what he liked to do. He would rather just hang out with his friends, smoke, joke around and have fun.

Shrugging those thoughts away he turned on Ino's street, pulled into her driveway and honked twice. She came out a minute later smiling and hopped in the passenger seat.

"You'll get the neighbors to call and complain about our noisy friends!" She said as she playfully bopped him on the arm.

He smiled sheepishly and rubbed the back of his head apologetically.

"Sorry about that, habit."

Ino just rolled her eyes and started messing with the radio, trying to find a song she liked. She finally settled on an obscure rock song and started humming along. Naruto started up the car and backed down the driveway, turned, and roared towards Sasukes house, leaving burnout on the pavement and Ino's happy shriek in the wind.


End file.
